Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMac Pro (2006) | AppleMac Pro (Mid 2010) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | August 2006 | August 2010 |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | 2 × Intel Xeon 5130, 2 × Intel Xeon 5150 or 2 × Intel Xeon 5160 | Intel Xeon W3530, Intel Xeon W3565, Intel Xeon W3680, 2 × Intel Xeon E5620, 2 × Intel Xeon X5650 or 2 × Intel Xeon X5670 |
| CPU cores | 4 | 4, 6, 8 or 12 |
| CPU threads | – | 8, 12, 16 or 24 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, ATI Radeon X1900 XT or NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 | ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB GDDR5), ATI Radeon HD 5870 (1 GB GDDR5) or 2 × ATI Radeon HD 5770 (1 GB GDDR5 per card) |
| Memory | 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB or 16 GB | 3 GB, 6 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better) |
| Storage | 250 GB to 750 GB | 512 GB to 2 TB (better) |
| CPU | Two dual-core Xeon 5100-series processors at 2.0, 2.66 or 3.0 GHz, with 4 MB shared L2 cache per processor and independent 1.33 GHz frontside buses; EveryMac identifies Xeon 5130, 5150 and 5160 respectively. Four cores total. Later 2007 eight-core MacPro2,1 upgrade is a separate generation, not included in these configurations. | Standard single 2.8 GHz quad-core Xeon W3530 (Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz) or two 2.4 GHz quad-core Xeon E5620 processors (up to 2.66 GHz; eight physical cores and sixteen threads in total). Maker factory upgrades are a single 3.2 GHz quad-core W3565 or 3.33 GHz six-core W3680, or two six-core X5650 at 2.66 GHz or X5670 at 2.93 GHz. Processor count means physical sockets; chip core and thread figures are per processor. |
| GPU | GeForce 7300 GT has 256 MB GDDR2, one single-link and one dual-link DVI; Radeon X1900 XT and Quadro FX 4500 each have 512 MB GDDR3 and two dual-link DVI. Quadro adds stereo 3D. Maker also confirms two, three or four 7300 GT cards; multi-card upgrades are described here rather than inferred mixed-card configurations. | ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5870 with 1 GB GDDR5; optional two HD 5770 cards with 1 GB each. Both cards have two Mini DisplayPort outputs and one dual-link DVI port. Graphics memory is per card. |
| Memory type | 667 MHz DDR2 ECC fully buffered DIMMs; eight slots on two removable risers, up to 16 GB; factory options 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 GB | Single-processor systems have four slots and dual-processor systems eight slots for DDR3 ECC SDRAM. Memory runs at 1066 MHz with 2.8/3.2 GHz single and 2.4 GHz dual processors, or 1333 MHz with the six-core processors. Factory order tables list 3, 6, 8, 12 or 16 GB for single-processor systems and 6, 8, 12, 16, 24 or 32 GB for dual systems. The current maker support sheet gives higher supported upgrade limits of 32 and 64 GB respectively using up to 8 GB DIMMs; these are distinguished from the original factory rows. |
| Storage type | Four independent SATA 3 Gb/s direct-attach bays. Launch supports 250/500 GB drives and up to 2 TB; later archived specification adds 750 GB drives and up to 3 TB. Configurations list one primary drive; additional independent drives and optional RAID card are separate upgrades, not a Fusion Drive. One or two 16x SuperDrives with double-layer DVD support. | Four 3.5-inch cable-free drive bays with independent 3 Gb/s SATA channels and included carriers. Factory choices per bay are a 1 or 2 TB 7200 rpm hard drive with 32 MB cache, or a 512 GB SSD; up to 8 TB with four hard drives or 2 TB with four SSDs. Configurations list one selected drive, with optional additional drives described here. Optional Mac Pro RAID Card has 512 MB cache and 72-hour battery backup; SSDs are not compatible with this card in RAID or Enhanced JBOD mode. Standard 18x double-layer SuperDrive, optional second optical drive. |
| Expansion slots | One double-wide x16 graphics slot and three full-length PCI Express expansion slots with configurable bandwidth; 300 W combined maximum. PCI/PCI-X cards are incompatible. | One double-wide PCI Express 2.0 x16 graphics slot and three further full-length slots (one x16 and two x4); 300 W combined maximum. All slots mechanically accept x16 cards. Optional dual- or quad-channel 4 Gb Fibre Channel card. |
| Display | ||
| Screen | None built in | None built in |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 5 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack | 5 × USB-A, 2 × Ethernet, headphone jack |
| Ethernet | 1 Gb/s | 1 Gb/s |
| External displays | Up to 8 | – |
| Wi-Fi | Optional AirPort Extreme | 802.11n |
| Bluetooth | Optional 2.0 + EDR | 2.1 + EDR |
| Front ports | Two USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and headphone output | Two USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports and a headphone minijack |
| Back ports | Three USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, two Gigabit Ethernet, optical TOSLINK input/output and analogue line input/output. Graphics card DVI outputs vary by configuration; included keyboard USB ports excluded from chassis count. | Three USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire 800 ports, two independent Gigabit Ethernet ports with jumbo-frame support, optical TOSLINK audio input and output, and analogue stereo line input and output. Graphics outputs vary by card; FireWire and DVI are described here because the main port list has no fields for them. Included keyboard has two additional USB 2.0 ports, excluded from chassis counts. |
| External displays | Up to eight displays requires four GeForce 7300 GT cards. Single-link DVI up to 1920 × 1200; dual-link DVI up to 2560 × 1600; analogue up to 2048 × 1536 using included adapter. | Up to three displays with one graphics card, or six with two HD 5770 cards. Digital resolution up to 2560 × 1600 and analogue up to 2048 × 1536; optional Mini DisplayPort/DVI/VGA adapters. Multichannel audio through Mini DisplayPort. |
| Speakers | Front-panel speaker | Internal speaker and front headphone output; optical and analogue audio input/output |
| Keyboard and mouse | Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse; display sold separately | Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and Magic Mouse; optional Apple Wireless Keyboard, Apple Mouse or Magic Trackpad |
| Design and power | ||
| Type | Tower | Tower |
| Width × depth × height | 206 × 475 × 511 mm | 206 × 475 × 511 mm |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Size and weight detail | Maker standard-configuration weight 19.2 kg; actual weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process, so shared scalar weight omitted | Standard quad-core configuration weighs 18.1 kg; standard eight-core configuration 18.7 kg. Actual weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process; a shared weight is omitted. |
| Power supply | 100–120 V or 200–240 V AC, 50–60 Hz single phase; maximum 12 A in low-voltage range or 6 A in high-voltage range | AC input 100–120 V or 200–240 V, 50–60 Hz; maximum current 12 A at low voltage or 5 A at high voltage |
| Noise | – | Apple gives operator-position sound pressure of 26 dB for the 2.8 GHz model and 25 dB for the 2.4 GHz dual-processor model at idle, 26 dB for both during hard-drive access and 37 dB during optical access. Sound power is 3.6 B at idle, 3.7/3.6 B during hard-drive access and 4.6 B during optical access. |
| Materials | – | Recyclable aluminium enclosure; BFR-free and internal cables PVC-free |
| In the box | Mac Pro, keyboard and mouse, DVI-to-VGA adapter, USB keyboard extension cable, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Launch software Mac OS X 10.4.7 Tiger and iLife '06; later archived sheet lists Leopard and iLife '08. Launch AirPort Extreme optional; archive later specifies optional 802.11n. | Mac Pro, power cord, Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad, Magic Mouse, USB keyboard extension cable, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife included; Mac OS X Server and professional applications optional. |
More comparisons
- Apple Mac Pro (M2 Ultra) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (M2 Ultra)
- Apple Mac Pro (2019) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (2019)
- Apple Mac Pro (Late 2013) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
- Apple Mac Pro (Early 2009) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
- Apple Mac Pro (Early 2008) vs Apple Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (Early 2009)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (Early 2008)
- Apple iMac (20-inch, Late 2006) vs Apple Mac Pro (2006)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Power Mac G4 (AGP Graphics)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Power Mac G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)
- Apple Mac Pro (2006) vs Apple Power Mac G4 (Digital Audio)

